McLaren revealed that a software issue permanently damaged the Mercedes energy store on Lando Norris's car, forcing the team to withdraw Norris, McLaren driver, from the Chinese Grand Prix before the race start.
Each driver is allocated three energy stores for the season, and losing one at the second round of a now-22-race schedule could leave Lando Norris facing a 10-place grid penalty if he must use a fourth battery.
Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains investigated the fault and the battery was discarded, and Andrea Stella, McLaren team principal, said in a Friday press conference that McLaren trusts HPP to implement remedial actions to avoid a repeat. ESPN reported that McLaren has been critical of Mercedes for not sharing operational expertise on the new power unit; the Mercedes factory team has taken one-two finishes while McLaren sits third in the constructors' standings, 80 points adrift.
Read the full article at jalopnik.com.
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